FIG. 1 shows a conventional ironing board 1 comprising an ironing surface 10 supported by a pair of legs 20, 22. The legs 20, 22 extend from the underside of the ironing surface to a pivot 30 and further to feet 40. At the pivot 30 the legs meet in a crossed scissor-like configuration. There are four feet 40 formed at the ends of the pair of legs 20, 22. Adjacent to one end of the ironing surface 10 is an iron rest 50 on which the iron can be placed, and that is not damaged by the heat of the iron.
Commonly, one of the legs is rotatably coupled to the underside of the ironing surface, and the other leg is slidably coupled to the underside of the ironing board. This arrangement allows the ironing board to be collapsed by the user for storage. The collapse of the ironing board is achieved by the movement of the legs which allows the ironing board 1 to be stored in a narrow flat space. To provide a robust surface for ironing, the legs 20, 22 must be held firmly in position when the ironing board is in the upright position for use shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 2 shows two arrangements used on conventional ironing boards to allow the legs to collapse down flat. FIG. 2a shows the underside of a conventional ironing board 1 and how the pair of legs are coupled to the underside. Leg 22 is arranged to rotate about a fixed pivot attached to the underside of the bar. The other leg 20 has a cross beam 65 at the top end of the leg. The cross beam is arranged between a pair of slide surfaces 70. By sliding the cross beam 65 in the direction of the arrow 75, the height of the ironing surface can be adjusted. By sliding the cross beam further in the direction of the arrow 75, the legs will close flat against the underside of the ironing surface. In FIG. 2a, the position of the cross beam 65 can be fixed by the lever arm 80. The lever arm is pivoted at its center. Towards the one end of the lever arm 80 are a series of hooks 82 (two shown in FIG. 2a) which the cross beam fits into. The hooks 82 prevent the cross beam 65 and legs 20, 22 from sliding and the ironing board collapsing. The hook restraining the cross beam can be released by moving the handle at the other end of the lever arm towards the ironing surface. Conveniently, the handle is biased away from the ironing surface, and the required releasing motion is a squeezing of the handle toward the ironing surface. This causes the lever arm to pivot and the cross beam is released from the hook to allow the ironing board to be collapsed flat.
The prior art device of FIG. 2a has a problem in that the legs are only constrained when the hooks 82 engage with the cross beam 65, that is, when the ironing board is in an ironing position with the legs open. Multiple hooks can be used to provide the ironing surface at different heights to allow the user to select the most comfortable. However, the legs are not restrained in the closed position. Thus, a user when picking up the ironing board with the legs in the closed position, from for example, a cupboard, has to grasp the legs to prevent them flying open and hitting the user or surroundings as the ironing board is moved.
FIG. 2b shows a common alternative to the above prior art mechanism. In this case, the lever arm with hooks is replaced by a long rod 90 extending from cross beam 65. Intersecting with the long rod 90 is bar 94. The bar 94 is arranged to pivot about axis A through the center of the bar. At one end of the bar 94 is a tab 96 with a circular hole 98 through it, as shown in FIG. 2c. The other end of the bar 94 has a handle for turning the rod 94 about axis A. The handle may be biased away from the ironing surface such that the hole 98 in the tab 96 grips the rod 90. When the handle is squeezed toward the ironing surface the tab is rotated bringing the tab 96 perpendicular to the rod 90 effectively increasing the cross-section of the hole as viewed along the rod 90. With the tab perpendicular to the rod, the hole no longer grips the rod 90 and the rod can slide freely through the hole 98. This movement of the rod allows the legs to be moved between a closed or collapsed position, and an upright or open ironing position.
The prior art device of FIGS. 2b and 2c partly overcomes the problem of holding the legs in the closed position when the ironing board is carried. However, the legs are not held very securely in the closed position because the braking mechanism is only designed to act in one direction to hold the legs in the open ironing position. Furthermore, the device also suffers from a different problem. The mechanism holding the ironing board legs in the open position consists of a hole in a tab of metal gripping against a rod. This does not provide a robust and solid position to the ironing surface, and can sometimes slip thereby lowering the height of the board.
The stability and robustness of the position of the ironing surface is of particular importance when the ironing board is used with a steam generator iron rather than a conventional iron. Such steam generator irons include a large and cumbersome base unit that is filled with 1 to 2 liters of water. Thus, the stability and robustness of the ironing board is particularly important when used with a steam generator.
Another problem with conventional ironing boards such as that of FIG. 1, is that the tip 55 is designed to be useful for ironing a variety of different garments, but this results in the surface not being particularly suited to any go/went. For example, the narrowing of the width of the ironing surface is designed to be useful in ironing trousers because the top of the trouser can be placed over the tip to allow the waist and seat of the trousers to be ironed. However, the tip is also shaped to allow the shoulder yoke of a shirt to be ironed. Because the tip of the ironing board is narrowed, the area of the shoulder yoke that can be ironed at one time without movement of the shirt is small. Hence, ironing shirts requires the shirt to be repositioned many times during ironing. A number of attempts have been made to improve the shape of ironing boards, such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,016,367, 6,151,817, WO 2007/018791, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,237, but each of these attempts is limited by ease of use and the shapes of ironing surface that can be provided.
A further problem associated with conventional ironing boards is that the ironing surface cools rapidly. The surface is normally metal covered with fabric, or a fabric coated with foil. The foil is used to reflect the heat, However, with conventional ironing boards thick layers must be ironed on both sides to remove creases, and multiple layers cannot be ironed at once to remove all creases successfully.
Another problem with conventional ironing boards is that after use for several years the fabric top that forms the ironing surface 10 begins to migrate. A user will tend to iron garments using ironing strokes of the same direction. As a result, after several years of ironing, the fabric top will begin to slide towards one side. It is difficult to reposition the top because the fabric adopts the shape given by the edge of the ironing board. Repositioning results in the ironing surface not being flat. Some ironing boards allow the fabric top to be replaced, but this is usually a difficult task and the same problems will only recur again a few years later.